The Moon Song by Karen O

Album: Her (2014)

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Yeah Yeah Yeah's frontwoman Karen 'O' Orzolek wrote this lullaby for the 2013 feature film Her, with the movie's director (and her ex) Spike Jonze. She recalled: "'The Moon Song' was written and recorded in the most humble of circumstances; at my dining room table, a few paces away from the couch [where] I read the script for Her for the first time."
This marked Orzolek's second film collaboration with Spike Jonze, after she wrote the soundtrack for his 2009 film Where the Wild Things Are. The pair also previously collaborated on a 2005 Adidas commercial, Hello Tomorrow.
Orzolek recorded a second version of the tune with Vampire Weekend's Ezra Koenig, which was included in a three-song EP of "The Moon Song." "I wrote the song as a duet," the Yeah Yeah Yeahs singer told Rolling Stone. "I was really excited at the prospect of getting to record it with a male vocalist. Ezra was super cool and open, he slipped into character like a champ and damn he's got the goods.... Singing this song with Ezra felt like fulfilling a wish of my diehard romantic junior high self."

Comments: 2

Eden MayI think it’s written about dating someone with counter-dependence. When you are counter dependent you push away every form of a relationship as soon as you get close to them, even though it’s actually the last thing you want. It makes you feel detached and alone inside. She’s/He’s lying on the moon because, even though she/he feels close to him/her in proximity, she/he feels far away from him/her emotionally. It’s talking about how his/her ‘shadow’, aka guilt off being distant from the person she/he cares about the most, follows her/him around all day. She/He feels safe with him/her but her/his counter-dependence won’t let her/him open up to him/her leaving her/him feeling guilty and sad. She/He compares it to space because their relationship feels empty. The things she/he wishes she/he knew is why her/his brain does this to her/him, ultimately hurting her/his relationship unintentionally when her/his SO finally realize how she/he really feels.
Sally Rmlk from BelgiumIn my opinion, the moon song is about a lost loved one. Even if one of the two lover lost life, death can't tear them apart. The lover waiting on the moon could represent the person who passed away, while their soulmate is still on Earth. "My dear, I'll be there soon" could mean that when the other person will pass away aswell they will be reunited. "Your shadow follows me all day, making sure that I'm okay" could mean that the lover who is still alive thinks about their soulmate all the time and that the memory of them lives with them forever. The lover on Earth feels safe thinking about their lost lover. The love of the two created them a world far from everything "million miles away" and even if they are far from each other because of death they still both live in this world their love created for them.

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